Gatlin sets year’s fastest 100m

Justin Gatlin sent a message to Usain Bolt on Friday - both with his legs and his mouth. Gatlin lived up to the pre-season hype by winning the 100 metres in a world-leading 9.74 seconds at the Diamond League opener, a personal-best time and a new meet record for Doha. While Bolt hasn’t made his season debut yet, it was an early marker from Gatlin ahead of their anticipated showdown at the world championships in Beijing in August. “That was for him (Bolt),” Gatlin said. “I just wanted to go out and put down a good time. I know I had to go out and make a statement tonight. That’s what my coach told me to do.” There was a big gap between Gatlin and his chasers, with US relay teammate Michael Rodgers second in 9.96 and Keston Bledman of Trinidad and Tobago third in 10.01. Gatlin was the fastest man in the world last season over both 100m and 200m while Bolt rested, but went even faster in his first 100m of 2015 in the sweltering heat at Qatar Sports Club. Some other big names didn’t do as well on the night. Double Olympic and world long-distance champion Mo Farah made his Doha debut, but had a rare loss on an outdoor track when he couldn’t catch Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet in the 3,000m. Cheers That brought raucous cheers from the Ethiopian fans dressed in their red, yellow and green soccer shirts in one corner of the stadium. The defeat for Farah, who is starting his track season much earlier than normal, showed he was still human, he said. “I haven’t had a hard competition like that since Moscow (the 2013 worlds),” he said. Farah struggled to kick into another gear over the final lap and finally found some power through the last turn to come back through the field, but could only get second. Gebrhiwet was the world silver medallist in the 5 000m behind Farah in Moscow. Jasmin Stowers showed she’s a rising star by winning the 100m hurdles in a personal-best 12.35 seconds, a new Diamond League record. Olympic champion Sally Pearson and 2014 Diamond Race winner Dawn Harper-Nelson were both outside the top three. Pearson was fourth and Harper-Nelson last after crashing into a hurdle. Allyson Felix breezed to victory in the 200m in a meet-record 21.98 seconds. American Bershawn Jackson won the 400m hurdles, holding under pressure through the final stretch after clipping the last barrier. In the field events, Cuba’s Pedro Pichardo leaped 18.06m for the third longest triple jump in history, beating Christian Taylor’s 18.04m in a fantastic duel in the pit. Greece’s Konstantinos Filippidis cleared 5.75m in the pole vault, grabbing his chance after world-record holder Renaud Lavillenie withdrew in the week with a shoulder injury. DOHA-NAMPA/AP